EAC goes a-begging

Erica Virtue, Staff Reporter

THE Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC) has authorised its chairman, Professor Errol Miller, to seek overseas funding to pay for the costs of training its staff in electronic voting technology.

The technology is expected to be provided for the general election which is due by March 2003. It takes the form of an electronic voter system which identifies the elector by fingerprint, produces a photograph, and generates a ballot.

The Governments of the United States and France, where two of the companies short-listed to provide the machines are based, are among the sources being approached.

Professor Miller acknowledged last week that funds are being sought to underwrite the training and education costs.

"Whatever we do we are going to need funding for public education, training of people to use the system and voter education and that is what we have been exploring with some people," he said on Friday.

Assistance is being sought for funding, The Sunday Gleaner understands, because the Finance Ministry has not allocated sufficient funds to the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) which has responsibility to train individuals to operate the electronic voting system.

Once trained, these persons would in turn train others in the island's 60 political constituencies, to operate the machines.

Both the ruling People's National Party and the Opposition Jamaica Labour Party are agreed on the technology. However, it is said to be very costly, although persons invol-ved in negotiations for its purchase are not disclosing the price.

Asked if approaches to the French and American Govern-ments would not be interpreted as playing off one against the other, Senator Ryan Peralto, the JLP's representative on the EAC, said he did not see a problem.

"Nothing is wrong with that," he said.

He added that the approach "....will not tilt the weight of the contract in favour of anyone because we are not saying that if you provide the funding you will be selected," he said.

Sources told The Sunday Gleaner that the hunt for overseas funding was necessitated by the Finance Ministry's rejection the EOJ's request for an increased budget, after the EOJ received only $6 million of the $96 million which was requested.

The sum is said to be only enough to clear the administrative functions of the EOJ.

Back to Lead Stories